This is Just a Test
by Little Miss Dancer Girl
Summary: Percy's on a mission. Troy's not as ready for college as he thinks he is. Can you connect the dots? Set in future AU (after Heroes of Olympus), and will include the characters and knowledge of Camp Jupiter and some neat new inventions.
1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note: This has been sitting in my computer for a little over a year now, and I feel that it has potential, so I'm posting it. The characters may be OOC, but they'll be back in character soon enough, I promise.**

**Enjoy!**

* * *

I drove up to my new school, East High. It was compact, and small, like a cube, with the gym, a smaller cube, sticking out of it. On the side of the gym, there were painted murals of basketball players in red and white uniforms. Immediately I could tell that this school is patriotic towards their basketball team.

I parked my Prius in front of the entrance. I saw groups of kids around my age standing around and talking, like there was nothing else better to do at the time. Nearly all of them were wearing the school colors-red and white. Above their heads hung a huge red and white banner that looked like it said GO EAST HIGH WILDCATS!

Gods, these people love their school basketball team a little _too_ much.

I opened the car door and swung my backpack over my shoulder. Suddenly, everyone's conversations came to a halt and they all stared at me like I just jumped out of a UFO. Cautiously, I walked to the top of stairs in front of the school. Much to my relief, people gradually went back to talking and ignored me. Ah, just how I liked it. I only needed to be here for as long as it takes for me to complete my mission-to find this Troy Bolton guy and teach him to defend himself for when he goes to California in the fall, like Rachel said. I wasn't here to make any friends.

Besides, I'd have to lie to any of the friends I made here anyway. I would be hiding the fact that I'm, well, you know what. I don't want to say it, because someone with a big mouth could be eavesdropping- anyway, I would eventually have the truth come flying out of my mouth before I knew it, and that would mean _trouble_, because then they would know. And we all know that nobody's supposed to know anything.

Here's how it is: we save mortals from monsters and angry immortals (gods, titans, etc.), and mortals stay stupid and happy. It's not a very fair system, but at least the world is safe, which is all that really matters to us.

As I made my way into the building, I found a huge crowd of kids, this time _all_ of them wearing red and white, admiring a gold basketball trophy encased in glass standing on a spotless white pedestal. Standing around it, as if guarding it, were a bunch of jocks signing autographs. _What jerks, _I thought. _As if they won a war or something. Which I actually happened to do, ever so conveniently._

I made a beeline through the crowd and approached the little clan of basketball-playing celebrities.

"Hey, what's this?" I asked them, putting on an innocent façade as  
I pointed at the trophy.

"That's the trophy we won at last night's game," one guy said, sounding annoyed, as he walked up to me, as if I should know that the Wildcats won their stupid game the other night. Everyone else around us fell silent. The guy was tall and bulky, almost as tall as me, with chocolate colored skin, dark curly hair in an afro, and even darker eyes, which bored their way towards mine. I tried half-heartedly to not let them get to me, which didn't take much effort.

On my little field trip to Olympus a while ago, beholding a disguise spell so I looked like a girl (nobody recognized me-but I couldn't help but feel awkward, I mean, I was a girl), I heard stories about me. One of them was never to look in my eyes. They were the color of the Mediterranean, but could change to the color of the Black Sea in an instant. I never really paid much attention to my eyes, and I didn't know they changed color when I got irritated. I never felt it. But hey, that's cool.

"Well, I'm new here. This is my first day," I said with the demure act. "Congrats on the win. It must've been impressive. Wish I could've seen it."

Another guy walked up to me. This guy was the same height as me, with skin just a little darker than mine, and shaggy light brown hair that was cut just above his blue eyes. They set me off a little; they reminded me of Thalia's.

"Thanks. What's your name?" He asked me. This guy sounded way nicer than his stupid jerk friend.

"I'm Percy."

"Nice to meet you, Percy. I'm Troy, and this is Jason, Zeke, and Chad." He said, pointing to the guys behind him. So that jerk's name is Chad, huh?

Wait a second. Troy? Was this Troy Bolton, the guy who I was assigned to? I pictured the photo Chiron showed to me and compared. Yep. This was the mortal I was looking for.

"Well, it was nice meeting you all, but I have to get to my homeroom-" I stopped mid-sentence. Someone was behind me. Someone who's presence filled me with relief and slight anxiety.

"Percy Jackson, I didn't know you went to school here too," said Thalia Grace.

The kids surrounding the jocks and the trophy case parted before my cousin as she fearlessly strode up to me, her blue eyes glowing with pleasure.

I felt the corner of my mouth curl up. "Yeah, Thalia. Today's my first day," I responded casually, adding _So, how's life been the last few months? Did you hunt any special monsters in particular? _to her with my mind. You see, not only can I communicate telepathically with sea creatures, equestrians, and Grover, but I can talk to Thalia and my other cousin Nico mentally as well. Not by magic or whatever, but we have cool new telecommunicators that we wear behind our ears. They're invisible, and extremely handy.

_Ah, the usual. A hellhound or two, a couple empousae, nothing special, _she replied. _Ya know, I had a feeling that someone would arrive today, though I didn't think it was important enough for Mr. Alpha to investigate_. _I dunno. Guess I should learn to trust my instinct._

"Er, how do you two know each other?" Troy asked.

"Our parents are close friends," Thalia lied slyly. _What exactly were you assigned for?_ she asked me in my mind.

I continued the conversation mentally as I nodded to Troy. _I'm here to keep an eye on the mortal. Be sure that there aren't any monsters, while I'm at it,_ I replied.

_Oh. Sophisticated,_ she smirked to me as she said to Troy and his jocks, "Well, I'm gonna show Percy to his homeroom, so I'll see ya round."

As we walked away,she then added to me, _Did that dumb Chad dude get in your way? He's an ignorant jerk, just so ya know. In fact, they all are, except for Troy. The rest of 'em think that they're just so awesome 'cuz they play basketball. Whoopee._

_ Yeah, I can tell. Troy's different for some reason. I dunno. He just, seems to be... less shallow-minded, like, well... I'm not sure._

_ Maybe it's 'cuz he can see through the Mist._

That stopped me. "What do you mean, he can see through the Mist!?" I hissed. Only after I said it did I realize I said it aloud. Oops.

"Yesterday, he had something like a panic attack at lunch," she answered simply. _I saw him get up from his table to go to the gym to practice for the game that night, and I think he saw an empousa, 'cuz he kept muttering stuff about fire and fangs for the rest of the day, _she finished telepathically.

"Well, that'll actually make my job much easier," I reminded her. "He's seen what's out there; all I have to do is tell him that he's not hallucinating, and teach him to fight. Piece of cake."

Thalia's face grew dull. "Let's hope so."


	2. Chapter 2

**Author's Note:**** Sorry this chapter's so much shorter than the last one, but as you will soon find out, not much happens. I like short fillers; sorry…**

**Happy back to school, btw. I'm sorry I haven't updated in a while, but I was on vacation and then preseason (which is still going on) has been a killer. I know I shouldn't be making excuses, but life is tough. I appreciate your patience.**

**Now, on with the story!**

Unfortunately, Thalia and I had only Biology together. Luckily, though, Chiron made my schedule match Troy's except for basketball practice; I simply have another free period then. Obviously you know where I'd be during that period every day. I had to keep an eye on Troy, no matter how much of a creeper I looked like to others. If he went to Berkeley with no training, he'd be sucked into Camp Jupiter and have absolutely no shot at a normal life. He'd be in the legion for at least ten years, and by the time he got out, he'd be in his thirties, without a relationship or job…

What a stinking pity.

I've been trying to swallow my jealousy. It's not like any of our lives have been normal so far. Sometimes I asked myself why I was willing to go out of my way to give a guy a life of normalcy only to make mine less of one, but I've gotten past that. Now I just don't want to let Chiron down. My life is my life.

I shifted my focus from La-la Land to the practice at hand:

"Come on, Troy; I know you can do better. Those layups are just sloppy," reprimanded Coach Bolton. "Go over there and work on your three-pointers."

Troy, looking as exhausted as hell, headed over to the back of the gym, but instead of practicing, he looked around like he had never been in a gym before.

That's when he spotted me.

I watched his expression go from confusion to realization to anger in a matter of seconds. He then motioned for me to meet him in the locker room before storming off.

Ha. Like he can tell me what to do.

"What the hell, man? That's closed practice!" Troy bellowed as he slammed a random locker.

"Nobody's noticed me before," I murmured.

That got him even angrier. "Wait, so how many times have you just sat there watching!?"

"Since I first came here."

"Wha-why? What do you think this is? Who do think you are?"

"I have to keep an eye on you."

That shut him up pretty fast. He just stared at me, dumfounded. I took it as an opportunity to explain.

"I was sent here to watch you. You're in danger. I can only tell you this much right now."

Troy turned away and put his forehead up against the wall. "Is this some kind of sick joke? You can't be like a secret agent or anything."

Trust me, I wish it was as cute as that.

He turned around, and I cursed to myself. I said that thought aloud.

"Well, what the heck is all this? Who are you, really?"

"I'm Percy Jackson," I stared off, causing Troy to give me an 'are you freaking kidding me' look. I continued with, "and I'm a son of Poseidon," and his expression deepened.

I watched his brow furrow more and more as I go on.

"I go to a camp that is safe for demigods like me. There are two, actually. One for Greeks and one for Romans. I come from the Greek one, Camp Half-Blood. I was sent here by our director, Chiron, to find you and train you so you won't have to go to camp—"

"Why would I need to go to camp? Supposing you're telling the truth, of course," Troy asked.

"If you'd let me finish."

"Sorry."

"Technically, the two camps accept both Greeks and Romans now, and so you'd end up going to Camp Jupiter this summer to prepare you for college. Eighteen is a dangerous age for legacies."

"Legacies?"

"Yes, you're a legacy. A legacy of Nike, the Greek goddess of victory, to be specific. Your mother's mother was a demigod, just like me. Once legacies turn eighteen, monsters start to find them. If they don't learn how to fight, they die. You need training. Since Camp Jupiter's closer, you'd be going there, and Chiron's concerned that it would be not only a huge culture shock, but you'd be torn from your family and friends."

At that, I laughed for a little. It's absolutely crazy.

"And you're really lucky Chiron's considering that. Nobody else I know has gotten this far living a mortal's life."

I let that hang.

"So, my great-grandmother is a goddess, and I need to learn to fight monsters. What a weird dream."

"It's not a dream!" I tried to restrain myself, but it was getting more and more difficult. He was seriously pissing me off. If my jealousy wasn't enough, it was his ego that really got me. "And you'd better believe me, or else there will be more like that empousa from before. And you will get killed, guaranteed!"

His eyes widened. "Eh-empousa…that's what it's called?"

"The fire-head girl with fangs and weird-as-Hades legs, yup."

"How… how do you know about that?"

"Thalia told me."

He stared off into space, almost scoffing. "So she's in on this too?"

"Yeah, she's actually my cousin. Daughter of Zeus, lieutenant of Artemis. We don't see each other much."

"Okay then... wow."

I patted his back reassuringly. "Don't worry, Troy. You're not alone here. There are plenty of demigods, and even more legacies. You're not alone. And hey, you should get back to practice. Those layups really do need work."

He swatted my hand away playfully. "Alright, alright. Since when were you a coach?"

"I am a coach, just for something else."

Something completely different and much more dangerous than basketball.


End file.
